Karang Sidemen Local Community

Since 1980, the Karang Sidemen community, West Nusa Tenggara, has been cultivating 182 hectares of ex-HGU land. The number of cultivators is 520 heads of families (KK). They have created an organization, complete with an organizational implementation structure, to apply for management rights to the cultivated land, with assistance WALHI NTB since 2022. The Karang Sidemen Community accessed the Nusantara Fund Direct Funding to push for the recognition proposal.

Activities that have been held include education on people's management areas (WKR). The training is provided so that the community has a deep understanding of the land they work on, including how to manage and protect it. Then, the next activity is the consolidation of applicants for land objects of agrarian reform (TORA). The consolidation activity is intended so that the 520 KK applicants for TORA unite their voices and complete the application requirements, such as detailed maps, applicant data, potential land data, and others.

The collected data has been submitted to the Central Lombok Regency Government (Pemkab) in May 2024. The Central Lombok Regency Government itself immediately formed a task force after the submission from the Karang Sidemen Local Community. The 182-hectare land was decided to be divided into 6 blocks, block A to block F. Each block has a different area, as well as the number of cultivators. Of the total 182 hectares, the Karang Sidemen Local Community agreed to make 32 hectares of land a watershed conservation zone (DAS).

With fundamental changes to the management rights, this program is able to provide benefits to approximately 1000 people who are members and families of the Karang Sidemen Local Community. When considering the sustainability and availability of community-managed food, this program can provide wider benefits to 1,11 million residents in Central Lombok. The most important thing about this program is the provision of access to land for community groups who do not have private land.